Offers Testimony To The House Committee On Homeland Security

TSA Administrator John Pistole spent part of his Thursday on the hot seat in front of the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Homeland Security Subcommittee on Transportation Security defending his recent decision to allow certain knives on board airplanes.

National President J. David Cox Sr. Says Knives Do Not Belong On Airplanes

TSA Administrator John Pistole's testimony before the House Homeland Security Committee Thursday didn't do much to slow down criticism of his decision to allow certain knives to be carried onto airplanes. J. David Cox Sr., national president of the American Federation of Government Employees, joined the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA at a rally on Capitol Hill Thursday to reject the TSA's policy change that would allow small knives on airplanes.

Would Place The Airport Under A Newly-Created Regional Airport Authority

Control of the nations' eighth-busiest airport is the focus of a bill making its way through the North Carolina legislature. The state Senate voted this week along party lines to transfer control of Charlotte Douglas airport away from the city of Charlotte to a newly-created regional airport authority. A second senate vote is expected next week before the bill could move to the state House of Representatives.

Plans To Grow The Worldwide Sales Network By 50 Percent

Cessna has unveiled a planned expansion of the company's worldwide sales force by nearly 50 percent. As part of this effort, the company is placing an emphasis on decentralized satellite offices in global markets where Cessna's presence is well established or where the company sees opportunity for growth.

Committee Chair Apologizes For Questioning Company's Finances

With all the bally-hoo about the wonderful resources that were supposed to be provided by Chinese government-owned CAIGA's purchase of Cirrus Aircraft, we're somewhat mystified to note that the City of Grand Forks has apparently agreed to loan Cirrus nearly a million dollars. The Grand Forks Growth Fund Committee has made a $950,000 load to Cirrus Aircraft and, the committee's chair has apologized (the reasons or circumstances for such not being fully explained at this writing) to Cirrus' Bill King for questioning the company's ability to repay the loan at a previous meeting -- despite the company's history of financial difficulties and questionable business practices.

National Search Will Be Conducted To Identify Replacement

Airport Council International-North America’s (ACI-NA) President, Gregory O. Principato, announced Thursday that he intends to step down from leadership of the association on June 30, 2013. David N. Edwards, Jr., Chairman of ACI-NA's Board of Directors, thanked Principato for his work on behalf of ACI-NA and the North American airport industry.

Social Media Campaign For The Rover Takes Top Honors

The down-to-Earth persona of NASA's Mars Curiosity rover, expressed on Twitter, Facebook, live streaming on Ustream, viral videos and the first Foursquare check-in from another planet, has captured the 2013 South by Southwest (SXSW) Interactive Award for best social media campaign. The award, presented Tuesday night at the SXSW Interactive Festival in Austin, Texas, honors the Mars Curiosity social media campaign for turning NASA's newest Mars rover into an Internet celebrity.

Winning Essays Explain How Tuskegee Airmen's Ideals Of Leadership, Excellence, Advocacy And Determination Are Essential To Success

Fantasy of Flight recently announced the winners of its third annual "They Dared to Fly" essay contest honoring the nation's first African American military aviators, the Tuskegee Airmen. Students in grades 6-12 were invited to participate in the essay contest by sharing their views about how the airmen's values of leadership, excellence, advocacy and determination earned them a place in the history books and/or how these values could be applied in students' own lives.

"(W)e have completed a thorough review of the battery system and made numerous improvements that we believe will make it a safer, more reliable battery system." Source: Boeing Commercial Airplanes President and CEO Ray Conner.

A system of lights similar to the VASI, but consisting of one row of lights in two- or four-light systems.

ATC Humor

So what's so funny about Air Traffic Controllers? Check out some of the conversations and exchanges at this site, and give yourself a chuckle.